“So he called a meeting of the Jewish ruling priests and religious scholars, demanding that they tell him where the promised Messiah was prophesied to be born. “He will be born in Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,” they told him. “Because the prophecy states: And you, little Bethlehem, are not insignificant among the clans of Judah, for out of you will emerge the Shepherd-King of my people Israel!” 
-Matthew 2:4-6 [TPT]

A Time to Think… 
“This Advent we look to the Wise Men to teach us where to focus our attention. We set our sights on things above, where God is. We draw closer to Jesus… When our Advent journey ends, and we reach the place where Jesus resides in Bethlehem, may we, like the Wise Men, fall on our knees and adore him as our true and only King.” – Rt. Rev. Mark Zimmerman-Bishop for the Anglican Diocese of the Southwest, author, writer & speaker 

A Time to Act…
As we wind up from Advent to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, may we embrace the wisdom of the Wise Men and not the wisdom of our society. As they did—falling on their knees and adored Jesus, let us do so as well. All the gifts and everything else we’ve bought for this time has nothing over the real gift and that is Jesus!

A Time to Pray…
O Lord, help us to push away the rush and sit by you where we can listen how God came down to us in Jesus and came among us and lived with us. That is what we want to tell our children and our friends because that is really what Christmas is about. May our prayers for this holiday lift up our hearts and others as we rejoice that the Messiah is here! AMEN.